Thursday, September 08, 2005

Two Possible Itineraries

Since we got word about our successful placement and pictures of our baby daughter, we have pined to finally meet her. Well, after a long wait . . . we are still waiting. But there is now emerging information on a possible itinerary. Actually, two possible itineraries. Well, maybe just one. Confused? Us too.

The first week of October is a holiday in China. So it is likely we’d wait until after that to do our trip, which would have us leaving around October 7 and returning around October 19. But another possibility, unconfirmed, is that we could do the “meet the baby” part before the holiday and the “to the consulate for legal paperwork” after; during the holiday, we’d just chill in China. So Plan B has us leaving for China around September 24 and returning around October 12.

We don’t even know if Plan B is a possibility, but we’re mulling things over anyway. Plan B allows us to meet Jada two weeks earlier, but it has us in China a week longer. Leaving later gives us more time to prepare, but more time apart from our daughter. Meeting Jada and then not being able to come home relatively soon could be hard in terms of medical issues and general unsettledness. Or it could be a way she could be able to deal with the transition of leaving the orphanage and getting to us, and then later on dealing with the ordeal of traveling halfway across the world, rather than doing all of those transitions in a relatively short period of time. A week in China wasn’t something we had expected, and it comes with its costs, both in terms of finances and being away from school and work for me. But it could be a lot of fun, too, a way for us to get to know the country and region where our daughter is from.

So there you have it. More news at 11.

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